Old Time Country Preacher brought this topic up in another thread: life and death are in the power of the tongue (Proverbs 18:21)Our pastor mentioned this last Sunday and talked about it even more than that the Sunday before last. (He was doing a sermon series based on Jentezen Franklin’s book
Ole Timer, I have a purty good idee of what it ain’t. What I was a hopin for was some discussion of what it IS.
Verses 17-19 are about conflict. IMO, verses 20 and 21 are an extension of that thought. If I went to a biker bar and yelled that Harleys are for sissies, I suspect I’d discover that life and death are in the power of my tongue.
Let’s say you go before the king and convince him to attack his enemies, or you say something that provokes his wrath. Your tongue could lead to death. Talk your neighbor out of planting his crops on time. He starves to death. Death in the power of the tongue. Insulting an angry man who hates you who is holding a sword– possibly speaking death to yourself.If you entice someone to sin with your words, death in the power of the tongueConvince someone to plant his crops on time and work hard– speaking life. Testify truthfully at a court case in a way that saves the falsely accused life–speaking life. Convincing someone to repent of their sin– speaking life. Is there any reason to think that this verse is intended to indicate we are supposed to ‘say, I speak life to this person’s body’ when someone has cancer, or that we should ‘speak life’ into a situation by saying we speak life into it?Are we supposed to try to put the blood of Jesus on people and situations by saying we are doing it? Is there any benefit to praying the blood of Jesus on the food before you eat it, or to cover you with the blood of Jesus so you will have a safe trip? I’ve heard variations of both kinds of prayer. Maybe one variation was to sanctify the food with the blood of Jesus. Was that the purpose of the blood of Jesus?How many other mystical ‘pop’ interpretations of verses and practices like this do we hear in the charismatic movement.I’ve heard, A man’s gift makes room for him applied to spiritual gifts, which, IMO, seems a rather tenuous application to a verse on men giving gifts to say the least________________
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Verses 6, 7, and 8 also seem to speak to that (saying foolish things that incite contention and violence or saying things that are slanderous). Being just a little silly here. In that case Dave is dead, or wishes he was! This indicating the power of the spoken word.Forgive me for I am silly. I just finished 1000 mile drive to Florida and back. CARRY ON________________Some facts but mostly just my [email protected]/
I am not quite sure how speaking life can be a bad thing. ________________More of Him…less of me.twitter.com/camiracle77www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=691241499&ref=name
Is there a parallel between the word-of-faithers and the heathen who think they will be heard for their much speaking?
Matthew 6:7seems to indicate a bit of superstition on the part of the heathen as if there is a power in the abundance of words.Sorry, I meant to start a separate thread with this, but I’ll just leave it here.
Some WOF people have faith in FAITH not in God. That if they will just confess a million times (slight exaggeration) they are healed, they’ll be healed. Our faith must be in GOD and in the power of His Word, not in our ability to believe________________More of Him…less of me.twitter.com/camiracle77www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=691241499&ref=name
No, WOF is not being mischaracterized here. Positive confession taken to the point of saying that the words themselves are the creative force has been very much a part of the WOF teachings.And the phrase that Carolyn referenced…
While you Have the title correct, Hagin always taught having faith in God. MK 11:22-24
Brotherjames, the teachings of positive confession are not being misrepresented here. They most certainly are taught as words being a creative force.
Perhaps I should have said WOF folks who take things to the extreme have faith in faith. My pastor always admonished us to eat the meat and spit the bones. If you are seasoned in the Word, you should be able to tell what is meat and what is bones.I believe in positive confession and speaking life, to an extent, not to an extreme. I believe the words of our mouth are very important, because they reveal what is in our hearts. Words also tend to influence our actions.My son in law was raised in a very negative environment that causes him to doubt his calling and what God has for him at times. Ever since my daughter met him, she has been admonishing him to Speak life! instead of the doubt and negativity he was raised in. He has gotten better, but it takes time to overcome a negative mindset. This is why we need to renew our minds through the Word daily.If you go around all day saying, I think I’m coming down with something… you probably will. If, on the other hand, you speak words of faith to your body to line up with the Word or quote scripture declaring you are healed, you have a much better chance of not coming down with that cold. On the other hand, I don’t think it’s wrong to say I’m sick when you are. God can’t heal you if you deny you’re sick! I’m not afraid to say, I’m tickled to death because you’re bringing death on yourself. These are extremes. We are not so good on balance sometimes.There IS power in your words, and oh, how Pentecostals need to learn this! There are some negative Pentecostals out there! I’m not saying there is power in our words because we are little gods. I am saying there is power in our words because we usually believe them…and that influences whether or not we will step out in faith to follow God. It influences whether we will fulfill our purpose or whether we will believe the impossible. But we have to learn balance in what is important and what’s not and not go off the deep end in extremes________________More of Him…less of me.twitter.com/camiracle77www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=691241499&ref=name
I’m tickled to death that you said that! ________________Some facts but mostly just my [email protected]/
I’m tickled to death that you said that! ________________More of Him…less of me.twitter.com/camiracle77www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=691241499&ref=name